Over the past year, government departments in charge of overseas Chinese affairs at all levels have helped companies funded by overseas Chinese deal with a large number of difficulties and disputes, an official said Thursday.

Last year, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council launched a campaign to help overseas Chinese business people resolve problems and settle disputes encountered in the mainland.

Overseas Chinese affairs offices of all levels handled 3,276 such cases in the year, including 1,196 financial disputes, of which 849, or 71 percent, have been concluded, said Li Haifeng, deputy head of the State Council office.

The campaign has protected the legal rights of overseas-Chinese investors and improved the environment for investment in the mainland.

Official statistics show that overseas Chinese, foreign nationals of Chinese origin, and compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao, are the largest overseas investor in the mainland, accounting for 70 percent of the total.